Regina Bell's If I Could has been playing through my mind...so, please indulge me.

If I could, I'd protect youFrom the sadness in your eyesGive you courage inA world of compromiseYes, I would

Another young life taken…another shrine of teddy bears and dime store candles to mark the spot and then deteriorate week after week, fading before the weary eyes of those left behind.

If I could, I would teach youAll the things I've never learnedAnd I'd help you crossThe bridges that I've burnedYes, I would

If I could, I would try toShield your innocence from timeBut the part of lifeI gave you isn't mineI'll watch you growSo I can let you go

I could care less about Olympic bids…about winners and losers in some kind of international game that may or may not trickle down some prosperity upon the masses.

But I care about Chicago…about my hometown of St. Louis…about all the cities where teddy bear shrines line sidewalks, mothers wail and slap at their faces, where young people bury their friends and talking heads talk at each other about this solution or that solution or this program or that program…where violence in the community is a guaranteed stimulus plan for undertakers and funeral directors.

If I could, I would help youMake it through the hungry yearsBut I know that I canNever cry your tears, babeBut I would, if I could

If I could, in a time and placeWhere you don't wanna beYou don't have to walkAlong this road with meMy yesterday won'tHave to be your way

I care that there are streets where violence is accepted…where folks greet news of shootings with shrugs because that’s just the way is goes.

I care because those streets aren’t so very far away…because I know young people who live there, ‘round the corner from the intersection between Gang Violence Gone Crazy Street and Community Apathy Run Amuck.

If I knew, I'd try to changeThe world I brought you toNow there isn'tMuch more that I can doBut I would If I could

And so, I wept…while curled up on my couch…fever in the blood and soul on fire…I wept frustrated tears for all the Derrion Alberts who didn’t make it home.

I’d shake a fist at the heavens if I thought it would do any good.

If I could, I would try toShield your innocence from timeBut the part of lifeI gave you isn't mineI'll watch you growSo I can let you go

But this crisis didn’t develop overnight…it will not be solved by theatrics or speeches.

And there won’t be any wall-to-wall coverage of the struggle…no international announcement of the outcome met by cheering crowds and a shower of confetti.

If I could, I would help youMake it through the hungry years

And all of that will not matter because this battle for hearts and minds is beyond worth it.

There are no throw away places, no lost chil’ren and no problems without solutions.

But I know that I canNever cry your tears

There is just the crisis before us and all those teddy bear shrines lining the road to our backs.

Outrageous. Last night on the news, Arne Duncan was shown visiting the South Side of Chicago. Did you see it? I live in Chicago people. Darien was not the first nor the last, you all know this. Duncan tried to sooth the anger by giving Dariens school lots of money for after school programs, like 500,000 dollars. Funny, while he was here as head of our public education department, he turned a blind eye towards the rise of crime against students. He didn't care until it made national news. The parents and community activists on television last night were having none of this! I am so proud and aggrieved at the same time. Students are refusing to go to school! Its a large issue that has to do with charter schools, i.e. schools close and then reopen as charters but in the meantime displace students, forcing them to go across gang territory for an education and when they re-open they don't allow neighborhood children back in. I am sorry to be so long winded and feel free to not publish this but its a can of worms that needs more attention, the cause in Chicago is co-related to education reform.

I've been a paramedic for almost 20 years in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area and the footage of that poor kid being beaten to death by those animals makes me sick. I am seriously fed up with subhuman monsters that think nothing of killing someone. My faith in humanity has been shaken many times from what I have seen in my job but this has stayed with me ever since I saw it on TV (not that I watch much TV mind you). I am not sure what kind of people we are raising when they try to justify (?) such acts be it because of the color of someone's skin, refusal to join a gang etc... We are all people FIRST and deserve respect and dignity. I have tried in my career to treat everyone with respect as human beings and I'll admit some nasty customers made it pretty hard sometimes to do just that but I figure if they were happier and more complete people, rested and assured within themselves, they wouldn't be killing others or themselves through drinking, drugs, gang violence etc.... I feel for that kid's family so much. I hope they get through this with their sanity intact.Nice blog by the way, discovered you totally be accident. Be well.